The Power of Words
by Oiaso
Summary: Unrelated one-shots based on different famous quotes and proverbs. The first is about friendship and trust... Do you want to know more? Go on and read!
1. 1 Thank You

**A/N****: **Hi guys!

Even though I obviously still don't own Arrow, I can't help continuing to write about it.

As you read in the summary, I'm writing some unrelated one-shots based on different famous quotes and proverbs. This first is about friendship and trust.

I started publishing these one-shots in Spanish, but some people have asked me if I could also post them in English, so here I am.

And if you have read something of mine in English before, you will know that sharing this with all of you would be impossible for me without the help of my incredible beta, **luvtheheaven**.

I hope you like this, even if it is only a little bit.

And don't forget, when you're bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

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**Title: **Thank You

**Characters: **Oliver Q., John D. and Felicity S.

**Rated: **T (See the end of the work for more notes)

**Spoilers: **2x09 - Three Ghosts

"**If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll feel that you don't really consider them as your partners" ~ Sam Walton**

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**Chapter 1: Thank You**

Felicity took the mask from Oliver's hands and smiling slightly, she put it on him gently. Barry had done a great job; the mask was perfect.

"How do I look?" Oliver asked with a little hesitation in his voice.

"Like a hero," she replied firmly.

He put on the hood while Felicity's words echoed in his mind. He could see that she really believed in what she'd just said - the confidence and pride in her words were clear. 'A hero'… It was the second time that night someone had called him that.

Tommy's words had deeply touched Oliver: 'I _know_ I called you a _murderer_, but you are _not. _You are a _hero._' He smiled slightly at the memory, and suddenly he felt a jolt in his stomach, his knees weakened, and he had to grab the table to keep from falling.

Slade was in front of him again, looking at him with hate. Although he was silent, Oliver knew what Slade had come to tell him. There had barely been a few hours since his previous hallucination, and his words echoed in his ears painfully: 'You are not a hero. Or a friend. Or a brother. You are _nothing_'.

He blinked several times until Slade disappeared and he could see Felicity in front of him.

"Oliver… Oliver, can you hear me?"

She wanted to caress his cheek, but as soon as she touched him, he jumped as if it had burned him.

"Hey, Oliver. What's up, man?" Diggle asked, starting to worry.

Oliver took a couple of steps back. His face was a mixture of confusion, fear and guilt. Wordlessly, he turned and ran, throwing the mask without worrying about where it fell.

"Oliver! Oliver, come back here!" they shouted, but he just ignored them.

"What was that?" Felicity asked as she picked up the mask and absentmindedly twirled it between her fingers.

"I think not all of his ghosts are gone."

"All? What do you mean by 'all'? I thought he'd only seen... Shado." She couldn't hide the pain she felt knowing he'd been with her on the island.

"He's told me before that he has also seen Slade Wilson. They were together in Lian Yu. I don't know what happened, but Oliver blames himself for their deaths."

"And who do you think he's seen this time?"

"It could have been either of them, or someone else... Who knows?"

"And as usual, he won't tell us until he's forced to. I know he doesn't find it easy to talk about what happened on the island, but then he was the first one who wanted Sara to tell him what had happened to her and... I'm aware that as I haven't been through anything like that I can't understand exactly how he feels, but someday he has to talk about it. He needs to let off steam... Or all that he has inside will end up consuming him."

"Felicity, give him time... Someday he'll be ready. When you come home after being in a place where you've been forced to fight... to kill... It isn't easy to talk about it. You fear being judged, or rejected. I had my brother, and Lyla; but they had lived those experiences with me, so we supported each other. But when Oliver came back, he had no one."

"He had his family! He had his mother and Thea, and he had you!"

"The truth is that Oliver and I didn't have a good start. And as for his family… Yeah, they were there, but they expected the old Oliver, and he is not that man anymore. Besides, he had a mission to perform, and he believed that the less his family knew, the safer it would be for them. So he decided not to tell them anything. He told nothing to his family, or to Tommy. Or to _anyone_ else. He had to face his homecoming alone. He got used to carrying all the weight on his own shoulders, to keeping secrets, to pretending to be someone else. And when you've been doing that a while, when you've done everything possible to leave your past behind, to keep it in a place where no one can get... You're so closed off that it's hard to let someone in, to let them know what you've done, what you have suffered, how much it still hurts."

"And I understand that, but I can't avoid wanting to help him… And the truth is that sometimes I wonder what we are for him," she said sadly. "I mean, I know we're his friends, John, he lets us see his true self, and he really trusts us—"

"But?" he interrupts.

"I don't know if it's because he was forced to do so, or because he really considered us his friends."

"Forced?" he asked, confused.

"Yes... Well, you had been _poisoned_, so what else could he do? And when he told me who he was, his mother had _shot_ _him_ and he was bleeding out... He didn't have many options... So yeah... Sometimes I wonder what we are for him."

Oliver hadn't gone far. As soon as he went out and the cold night air slipped into his lungs he felt better. He'd leaned against the wall, slipping down until he was sitting in the ground with the hood down and his eyes tightly closed.

He had left— No, he had _run away_ from the lair because he needed air, he told himself. But the fact was that he needed to be alone.

He didn't understand what was happening. He felt extremely lost and didn't know what to do. It had been a few minutes since he had told Diggle his ghosts were gone. But then why had he seen Slade again?

Tommy had told Oliver that he wasn't responsible for his death, that he was a hero… And for a moment, he'd believed Tommy's words. However, Shado had asked him to stop fighting and live… She'd said that he wouldn't be able to stop what was coming. He wondered if it had anything to do with Slade.

"But that's impossible... He's dead," Oliver said aloud.

"Are you sure, kid?" someone half-hidden in the shadows answered.

Oliver didn't need to see his face to know who he was. He recognized the Aussie's voice and clothes instantly.

"I saw you die. Twice."

"The first time you did kill me, at least for awhile. The sec—"

"It was the only way to try to save you!" he yelled, trying to explain his actions.

"The second time," Slade continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "you just _thought_ you had killed me."

"You didn't leave me any other choice," Oliver muttered in frustration.

"Are you sure? Then, why do you feel so guilty, kid?"

"You were going to kill her! I couldn't let you do it, Slade! I couldn't let you kill Sara! Slade? Slade!"

Oliver looked from one side to another, but Slade was gone. He let out a long sigh and stood up. Certainly Diggle and Felicity would be wondering why he had run away like that. They deserved an explanation. And maybe it was time to tell them some things about the island.

He entered the key on the number pad and walked in, per usual without making any sound. So much so that neither Diggle nor Felicity noticed his arrival, so he could hear what she was saying:

"…He didn't have many options... So yeah... Sometimes I wonder what we are for him."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Oliver said with unusual sincerity.

"Oliver! Where were you? Why did you run? Was it because of what I said? If it upset you, that wasn't my intention in any way, but you really looked like a hero to me, and I know you don't see yourself that way, but..."

"Felicity." He cut off her babbling.

"Yeah, I'll just shut up now," she said as she sat in her chair with the mask still in her hands.

Oliver smiled at her reassuringly. Just a few moments ago, she had been wondering if he really considered them as friends and now she was worried, thinking her words were the reason for his escape.

"Before, when you told me I looked like a hero... I'd seen an old–friend," -a chill ran down his back- "and he reminded me a few things from the island… You asked me once if I have any happy stories… This isn't one, but I think it's time to share some things with you two," he said as he sat on a chair, with his elbows on his knees. "The island taught me many things, and certainly not all were good."

Diggle and Felicity exchanged looks of surprise, but they said nothing. They knew that Oliver found it difficult to talk about the island, so when he did it, they tried to interrupt as little as possible. Dig leaned on the table with his arms crossed, waiting for Oliver to continue.

"The island taught me that friendship is something that can be used against you. The first time I was tortured they wanted to find out where Yao Fei was. He was the first person I met on the island, and Shado's father. She was also retained by Fyers, so Yao Fei had to play a double game to save both of us. He managed to send me to the plane's fuselage you saw. Then, there was Slade Wilson. He trained me and taught me to fight, and one day we got Shado free. She also trained me and taught me a few moves, but mostly she taught me how to use the bow. We were a good team. Slade was the warrior, I was the apprentice and Shado… She was the voice of sanity, the calm; she was the one who held us together... Although living on the island wasn't easy, we enjoyed some good moments when, for a few minutes, we forgot that they wanted to kill us."

Felicity looked at him with a half smile. It was the first time she'd heard him saying something nice about the island, even if it was only a tiny thing.

"One day, Yao Fei appeared on the plane, but he wasn't alone. Fyers and his men came with him. Although the first thing I thought was that he had betrayed us, I soon realized how wrong I was. Fyers was going to bomb the forest to kill us, and that was the only way Yao Fei had found that would give us a chance to survive. Fyers demanded Yao Fei to plead guilty for the attacks they'd planned, and when he refused Fyers threatened to kill us. That day they didn't use only friendship against us. They also used a father's love. In the end he had no choice but to accept. He risked his life to save us and he died. They killed him as soon as he finished his statement. Shado, Slade and I managed to destroy the camp and kill Fyers and his men, but the price was too high."

Oliver didn't say anything more for a few minutes, but his friends knew that he hadn't finished yet and that he only needed some time to clear his thoughts before continuing. So they waited patiently.

"One day, we were attacked and I was captured. When I awoke I was on a ship, locked in a cell by order of a Doctor Ivo and some men who worked for him. That's where I saw Sara for the first time after the shipwreck; she was something like his protégée… I don't know how, but they discovered who I really was and that Sara and I already knew each other. I guess not many ships wrecked in that area… The fact is that they knew I hadn't been alone on the island, and took advantage of Sara to deceive me and find out where my friends were hiding. The next day we returned to the island. They wanted to kill my friends before looking for the Mirakuru. Slade and Shado rescued me, also Sara. Eventually, we managed to get to the submarine where the serum was, unaware that Ivo and his men were following us. Slade was badly injured, and if we didn't do anything... He was getting worse by the minute. We found the serum in a closet, but there wasn't any kind of sedative. We had no other choice. I injected Slade with the serum, but it didn't help... He died anyway... Or at least we thought so."

"What do you mean by that?" Felicity asked, unable to contain herself.

"I'll explain soon. The fact is that Ivo and his men arrived and they took us out of there by force. And suddenly, I don't know how... I was forced to choose," he said, unable to hide how painful it was being to talk about those memories. "Sara and Shado were kneeling in front of me, Ivo pointing a gun at them… He told me that I had to decide which one of them should live or he would kill them both. I… I couldn't… I just couldn't make that choice…"

Felicity cried silently, wondering how he'd been able to overcome so much suffering. Diggle squeezed Oliver's shoulder, letting him know they were there, supporting him, saying in silence that he could take a break if he needed.

"I couldn't choose, so I did the only thing I could. I begged for their lives, I asked to kill me instead of them. But Ivo ignored my plea, repeating that if I didn't choose, both would die. When he finished speaking he pointed his gun at Sara, and without thinking I placed myself in the middle, ready to receive her bullet. But Ivo thought I'd chosen her, and before I knew what had happened, Shado was dead... She died thinking I chose Sara."

At that point, Oliver couldn't help but release a couple of bitter tears. He would never be able to shake off the blame for her death.

"And suddenly we heard screams and fighting sounds... It was Slade."

"So he wasn't dead?" Diggle asked, trying to understand.

"We'd thought he was, but it seems that the serum has that effect… When Slade came back to life, he found where we had been taken and he was able to kill all of Ivo's men. Ivo was the only one who managed to escape from Slade's fury. And when he saw Shado's body... He loved her so much... although she'd never returned his love in any romantic way. He swore that he would make sure that her murderer would pay. Sara told him that it had been Ivo, but he soon discovered what had happened. My nightmares betrayed me. I woke up screaming about Shado's death and Slade realized how I'd played a part in it. He'd sworn revenge, and Slade was a man of his word."

"He... He tried to kill you?" Felicity asked, horrified.

"I wish he would have. He tried to kill Sara."

"But that doesn't make sense!"

"It does for him. He wanted me to go through the same thing he'd suffered, and that was the best way."

"So did you think he really killed her? I mean, I know that Sara didn't die on the island, but since you really thought she was dead..."

"I don't know what I thought."

"How can you not know, Oliver?" Diggle asked. He didn't like to interrupt him, but sometimes it was necessary.

"I had tried to reason with him, explain what had happened, but he didn't hear me. In the end we had no other choice but to confront him. I still doubt if it was a good idea… Both Sara and I ended up quite badly injured. She was lying on the ground, covered in blood… dead, or at least I thought so at the time. I was barely standing, and Slade seemed invincible. I had never before faced anyone who had been injected with Mirakuru. My punches didn't seem to affect him, so I took the bow and I shot him over and over again. The arrows didn't stop him, but he slowed a little, until an arrow hit him in the eye. Whatever happened then... I don't remember well. I was very tired and dizzy… Everything was spinning… I heard him screaming and suddenly he wasn't there. I don't know how, but he ended up falling off a cliff. It was him or me… But still... I killed him... I killed my friend... My _friend!_" He sighed. "His cry is the last thing I remember. Then I passed out."

Felicity was no longer trying to hide her tears. Oliver's story was too painful.

"Yao Fei, Shado and Sara died because of me. I killed Slade. I was alone on the island, and the only thing left for me was the guilt. That was all I could think about when I woke up. I didn't dare to look at Sara's body. I got up as soon as I could and walked toward the cliff over which Slade had fallen. I had nothing to lose. I was sure that my family thought I was dead and that I could never leave the island by myself. I didn't think I could live with the guilt, so I went to the edge and I let myself fall. The knock against the water was..." he trailed off. "I just remember the pain... Somehow the tide had dragged me to a beach. When I woke up again, I realized it was the exact place I'd arrived at the island after the shipwreck, almost two years prior. I don't know how or why I lived after the fall, or how I only had a few broken bones. I survived once again, and I thought there must be some reason for it. So I told myself I had to be strong, fight and find a way out of there, to someday fulfill the promise I'd made to my father. I managed get to the cave where I'd lived with Yao Fei, and I spent most of the time there until I'd recovered enough to go back for Sara's body. I didn't find it. So I thought a storm may have washed it away... Now, I suppose that at some point she woke up and since she didn't see me, she thought _I_ was dead. I don't know."

"And what about Slade's body? Did you find it?"

"No, but having fallen into the sea with an arrow through his eye, it was almost impossible for him to have survived. If he did, I never saw him return to the island... And the same thing happened with Sara. I never saw her again… I don't know how she managed to leave the island, but from that day until I was rescued by some fishermen I felt sure I was the only person on Lian Yu."

All three were silent for a while. Diggle and Felicity were assimilating everything they had just heard, and Oliver was trying to find the right words so that they could understand what he had wanted to tell them.

"So yeah... I made friends there... Really good friends... But that only brought me a lot of suffering... That's why it's so hard for me, Felicity. All the people who get too close to me are in danger... They just get hurt... or dead. That list is already too long... I don't want... I _can't_ add more names to it. You two are very important to me, and not just for what we do here. Of course I consider you my friends, my _only real_ friends, and I…" He opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing how to continue. "I'm not good at this," he added in frustration.

Oliver wanted to explain that he was afraid to show how much he needed them, how much he cared about them... And that at the same time he was terrified that someone would find out. Friendship is a powerful weapon… He knew it firsthand, it had been used more than once against him, and he didn't want to go through the same again. He wanted to explain all that, so they could understand his behavior, but he couldn't find the right words. And yet, somehow, they knew what he was thinking. He could see it in Diggle's gaze... And he could feel it in the way Felicity hugged him.

"Thank you."

It was the only and most perfect thing Oliver could say. That single phrase contained so much meaning in itself, which both Diggle and Felicity understood without needing anything else.

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******A/N** 2: Thanks you for reading! And please don't forget to leave me reviews so I'll know what you think. Thank you very much!

I have some ideas for the next chapters, but if there is any famous quote or proverb about you would like to read, just let me know. Suggestions are welcome! ;-)

One last little thing, this was rated "T" because of the suicide attempt.

Until the next "chapter", have a great time!


	2. 2 Silence

**A/N****: **Hi guys!

It took a little longer than I would have liked to finish translating this, and I'm sorry. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but still I hope you'll enjoy it.

I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to happen, or so I thought, but while I was writing it, it took on a life of its own! However, the main idea hasn't changed (Felicity writing in her diary).

It is written mixing the past and present tenses, but I hope it isn't too confusing. But just in case, I will tell you that what is written in present tense is what Felicity is writing in her diary.

This was originally written before 2x13 (Heir to the Demon), and hence before Felicity talked about her mother. It's just a comment so you won't find the mention about her childhood odd.

As always, I have to mention my beta **luvtheheaven**, because she's done awesome work.

I hope you like it, even if it is only a little bit.

And don't forget, when you're bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

* * *

**Title: **Silence

**Characters: **Felicity

**Rated: **K+

**Spoilers: **Not really. Some little stuff could be mentioned, but nothing important.

"**No one will listen and understand you as well as a pen and paper" ~ Unknown**

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**Chapter 2. Silence**

Felicity wrapped herself in her coat when she left the Verdant basement and a wave of cool night air hit her. It had been raining most of the day, but luckily for her, it had already stopped. She went to her car, dodging the biggest puddles, flopped into the driver's seat and sighed. It'd been a long day in which she'd had to fight constantly to keep her emotions well-hidden behind her smile. It had been really exhausting.

So when Felicity got home, she dropped her purse and coat on the couch and she went straight to the shower. The hot water on her skin made her feel better instantly, as if some of her concerns had gone down the drain. She remained in the shower until she felt her fingertips begin to wrinkle. She turned off the water, wrung out her hair, took a couple of deep breaths, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and put on her glasses. She walked barefoot to the kitchen then grabbed a spoon and her favorite ice cream and set them on the nightstand beside the bed. She put on pajamas, and with her hair still wet got into bed, sitting with her back against the headboard. She took the ice cream container and ate a few spoonfuls, savoring it slowly, enjoying its taste.

"Nothing like some ice cream on a bad day," she told herself aloud.

When she was satisfied, she set the container back on the nightstand and took out a small notebook and pen from the drawer. It was the diary her mother gave her when she was seven years old and that she had never used for fear that someone would read it. She laughed as she realized how ironic it was that as a child, she'd refused to use it, worried about what her mother would say if she ever had found and read it, but now, fifteen years later, she had begun to write in it, knowing that if it ever fell into wrong hands, Oliver, John and she would be in _serious_ trouble.

She reread the first pages, those which she had written over a year ago, stopping at some of the phrases that for one or another reason brought significant memories to her:

'There is no doubt. Oliver Queen is the Hood. And I have now agreed to help him!? I must be going crazy.'

'How can he expect me to work if he walks around shirtless all the time? Does he not realize that I can't stop staring at him?!' Felicity chuckled when she read that. She still had some trouble staying focused when he was sparring with Diggle, or when he approached her shirtless, but now she managed to hide it pretty well, and sometimes she even thought Oliver did it intentionally.

She continued reading until she reached her first mission with Oliver and John: 'I had a bomb on my neck! A BOMB! I haven't been so scared in my entire life... I won't go with them again, even if they beg me!'

"Nope, now I'm the one who _asks_ Oliver to let me go with him," she thought aloud, realizing how much her thinking had changed.

'When he looked into my eyes, asking if I was okay... I swear it was fear that I could see in his eyes, but… could it have really been fear? Does he really care about me that much?

Felicity continued leafing through the diary, remembering more little moments.

"If you ever need to tell someone about your day… You can tell me." She couldn't help heave a long sigh when she read it.

Felicity would never forget the night that Oliver told her that... She perfectly remembered the way he'd looked at her, the feel of his hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his voice... He'd really wanted to let her know that he was there if she needed, although she already knew that. But Felicity just couldn't do that. Not to _him_.

She knew that if she talked to him about her problems, fears, or frustrations, he would be able to find a way to blame himself, and he had enough burdens on his shoulders - she couldn't add any more.

Besides, how she could talk to Oliver about her concerns, if all of them, in one way or another, were related to him? When it wasn't Isabel's malicious and venom-filled comment, it was the fear of him getting hurt on a mission, or the frustration and guilt when she felt that she was who had failed. She _couldn't_ talk about all that with him, so Felicity kept silent over and over again.

Tonight wasn't an exception. That's why she had gone to her diary. It was her way to let off steam without having to involve anyone else. She had been doing it for over a year and so far it had worked quite well.

She wrote the date in one corner and a sad face beside it. She liked to do so because that way, she could know if it had been a good or bad day just by looking at the drawing. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts before starting to write:

'There are good days, bad days and worse days... Today has been one of those last type. There have been so many awful things at once… Moments where I thought I wasn't going to be able to handle it anymore, I felt I was going to break at any time… There've been so many things that I don't even know where to start.'

"_From the beginning sweetheart, always from the beginning," _she remembered that her mother used to say when after a bad day at school Felicity wanted to let off steam and she babbled.

"From the beginning, of course..."

'It is clear that today I'd gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, because nothing would go my way…

The alarm clock ran out of batteries, the heater broke down when I was showering and I burned the pancakes... And all this before leaving home!

And then, when I arrived at the office, the floor was wet, and I was in a hurry because I was late, and so of course I slipped and I hit the floor so hard that it still hurts. I'm sure I will have a huge bruise tomorrow... But worst of all is that when I'd gotten up and looked to see if anyone had seen me... Why did it have to be _her_? I'm sure Isabel will take advantage of this. That shrew...

At least the rest of the day at work was pretty peaceful… Ignoring the fact that Isabel "slipped" and spilled coffee on my desk, destroying half of the papers on it... I don't even understand how Oliver can put up with her. I _really_ don't know how he was able to sleep with her...'

"Felicity, don't go there... Not again," she chided herself as she crossed out the last sentence.

She ate a couple more spoonfuls of ice cream and continued writing:

'Later in the lair, it seemed that I was going to finally get something good, because Oliver's been training on the salmon ladder, and well, I love when he does that... But it didn't last long, because the computer had started beeping. In a moment, Oliver and John were beside me, asking what was wrong.

It was the alarm of a chemical laboratory, and when I checked (because "hacked" sounds really bad, doesn't it?) some cameras surrounding the area, we could see that a van had driven right into the place, so they headed over there in a hurry.

It hadn't seemed like it'd be a complicated mission, but I couldn't help but ask them to be careful... I had a bad feeling, as if something was going to go wrong. Oliver told me not to worry, that they wouldn't take long. And I... I tried to believe him. But as soon as they'd closed the door, I felt a knot in my stomach.

I started to work immediately, searching for information about what products were in the lab, the building plans... I'd even gotten images from security cameras to find out how many people were inside. Just two. One next to the front door and another in the east corridor. At least that's what I thought and what I'd said to Oliver.

When Oliver told us that he'd already knocked out both of them I felt much calmer. It seemed that my fear had been unfounded. But no. Suddenly I couldn't find Oliver! He'd ended up in some sector that I couldn't access. I wanted to let him know what was happening but it was too late. I heard arrows, screams, blows, gunshots and grunts of pain. Suddenly, an explosion... and then nothing. NOTHING!

I'd seen that John had entered the room where Oliver was, running, while I was trying to figure out what had happened, but I couldn't, and I felt SO helpless... And I didn't know if Oliver was injured or worse. Other times John is with me and he helps me calm down, but today I was alone. And I was scared to death.

I haven't been so scared during a mission for a long time. I was terrified. So when I'd finally heard John saying 'I have him Felicity. He's only slightly bruised,' I could breathe again although I was still scared. I needed to see him with my own eyes. When they finally appeared in the security camera images... I had to force myself not to cry. Oliver was leaning on John, but he looked OK.

Nevertheless, until they had returned to the lair, I hadn't been truly calm. John was right. Oliver just was a little pale and bit dazed by the explosion, but nothing more. He explained to us that a bullet had hit one of the tanks and that's what had exploded.

We managed to convince him that it was best to go home to rest, and that tonight he couldn't do anything else. He barely argued, and that's what worries me most, because I'm sure that means he felt dizzier than he'd told us.

When I had first joined them, I realized that Oliver had been convinced that he could deal with everything on his own, that he didn't need anyone, and that he had to be the _strong one_. He really believed that he _couldn't_ depend on anyone. But not only that. I soon realized that Oliver was a complicated man who was trying to hide his past, was pretending in his present and didn't think about his future. Because Oliver lived day to day, minute by minute. Consequences of his years on the island, I guess...

But I think that John and I are slowly changing that. He's able to be himself with us, he allows us to see when he's sad, worried, or even hurt (and not always physically). Maybe he doesn't tell us directly, but he lets us see through him. He doesn't put on a mask when he's with us nor does he tell absurd lies to hide his real feelings. Not anymore.

With us, he isn't _Ollie_, the pre-island-stupid-rich-boy, nor is _Mr. Queen_, Queen Consolidated CEO... He's just _Oliver_. The man who's burdened with cares, a tragic past, and demons that scare him more than he can express in words. The man who wants to save the city, who cares about his family and friends, who wants to be a better person. The man who sometimes gets on my nerves, who doesn't laugh when I babble, who makes me shiver with just a glance...

He's the man I love even though I don't want to, because I know he's not for me, and I know he'll never see me that way.

So even though he said I could tell him... I can't do it. How am I going to talk to him about all this? I can't tell him that Isabel is trying to make my life miserable, or the rumors that everyone in Queen Consolidated are spreading behind my back about how I came to be his assistant... I can't tell him about how scared I am whenever he wears his Arrow suit, or that I can't stand the idea that something could happen to him. I can't talk to him about how frustrating it is that no one can know that we are really good friends, and why I spend so many hours with him if I'm just his _Executive Assistant_.'

"Of course I can't tell him about any of that... So I don't know what I would do without you," she muttered, staring at the diary. "I think at this point I probably would have gone crazy."

Felicity looked at her watch and sighed. It was getting late and the next day was going to be a busy workday. She put the diary in the drawer and took off her glasses. She knew the next morning she was going to regret not having put the ice cream back in the freezer, but at that moment she didn't want to leave the bed. She turned off the light and closed her eyes. Hopefully, this would be her worst day in a long time. Besides, not everything had been bad... 'It had been a while since Oliver had used the salmon ladder', she thought with a smile.

* * *

**Thanks you for reading! And please don't forget to leave me reviews so I'll know what you think. Thank you very much!**

**I have some ideas for the next chapters, but if there is any famous quote or proverb about you would like to read, just let me know. Suggestions are welcome! ;-)**

**Until the next "chapter", have a great time!**


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